Clarity
by Shalla Bal
Summary: Caroline travels to New Orleans to ask a favor of Klaus. In exchange for giving her what she needs, Klaus asks her to stay with him for one more day and night. Surely, Caroline can keep her cool and restrain herself from giving into his ceaseless flirtations for this tiny amount of time...right? Klaroline! Takes place between seasons 5 and 6 of TVD, and seasons 1 and 2 of TO.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Caroline Forbes frowned up at the sprawling place known as the abbatoir, the lavish compound that currently served as home to Klaus and Elijah Mikaelson. In the blazing late afternoon sunlight, she squinted in momentary wonderment at the extravagant lodging, the frown unintentionally fading as that part of her which enjoyed the finer things in life was momentarily impressed. "_Damn_," Caroline murmured admiringly, maybe trying to cut the tension within herself. And failing.

"Who are you?" An exhausted, bedraggled vampire, one of dozens milling around the courtyard, stopped to acknowledge Caroline with only passing interest.

Her patience with this endeavor dwindling already, she chirped, "I need to see Klaus. _Now_."

"He's not seeing anyone these days," the vampire, a young man with limpid blue eyes, explained, almost sympathetically, "just his innermost circle, and hardly ever even them."

"Oh yeah? Tell him it's Caroline."

The vamp shrugged and trotted off to perform the errand, returning at record speed to usher her upstairs to a darkened room and leaving her there without another word.

"Klaus?" Caroline called, squinting.

Finally, he stepped forward, out of the shadows, and there he was. The single biggest problem in Caroline's life. The embodiment of the forbidden desire that haunted her dreams even as she tried to keep it from her conscious thoughts. Klaus. She felt the same as ever when she saw him, though everything else had changed and she should by now be numb to the sensations he awakened in her. Why did he still have the power to overwhelm her with this craving to be near him, to reach out and touch him, find that light within him which he tried to dampen about as hard as Caroline tried to shake off her feelings for him? Hadn't she moved on after that little tryst in the woods, resolved the sexual tension? Wasn't she edging ever closer to Stefan Salvatore these days? Caroline couldn't believe the way seeing Klaus threw her right off her game all over again and for a second blew the whole rest of the world away from her thoughts. Irritated and uncomfortable, she grumbled inwardly, _this sucks!_

Klaus looked about a thousand times more world weary than his denizens outside, and no less heartbreakingly beautiful for all that. His face broke into a stunning, mischievous smile. "Caroline," he said warmly, shifting in a beat from miserable to enraptured. He swept her into his arms so fast that she had no time to react or try to prevent his embrace. He clung to her like she was a life preserver but also as if this move on his part was the most natural thing in the world.

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked, freezing up her body but not her heart.

"My city is going to hell. Warring packs of werewolves and witches have made my life of late a disaster. And I've lost my child." At hearing this last part, Caroline's breath caught in her throat.

"So please, Caroline," Klaus breathed into her hair, "let me hold you."

"Klaus, the baby-" she began, startled and horrified to her soul.

"Please, love," Klaus whispered, "just for a minute."

She shut her mouth and leaned into his body, helpless against the tide of emotions that enveloped her. She thought she'd never touch him again or fall prey to this dangerous abyss of temptations, but here she was. It felt so good, collapsing into the depravity of caring for this monster. Caroline could feel months of pent up anxiety fall off of her as she breathed in his familiar and intoxicating scent..._like really expensive European cologne, paint, and pure evil, _she mused, hypnotized but weirdly self-aware.

She forced herself to pull back, and it hurt to do so. "Come here," she charged him, leading him to a sofa and sitting beside him. "What happened?"

"We'll get to that," Klaus replied, wiping a tear away though he was laughing as well. "Oh, Caroline," he said in a pained grimace of amusement, yearning, and despair. "Why are you here?"

"Klaus, I didn't know what you were going through, or I wouldn't have-"

"Wouldn't have come to doubtless ask some favor of me in my darkest hour?" Klaus smirked. "Don't lie to yourself, sweetheart. Though yours is by far the sweetest heart I know, there's no question in my mind that the task which brings you here supersedes my personal tragedy in your mind. You need something from me or you'd never come, not in a million years. So out with it. My blood, perhaps? That's always a popular choice."

"No," Caroline replied, twisted by the bitter yet flattering tumult of his words. "Your mother's grimoire. We need it to try and find Damon and Bonnie. They're dead but not on The Other Side. Their souls are trapped somewhere else, maybe somewhere terrible." She gulped, hating to think of Bonnie suffering, or the pain Stefan and Elena suffered because Damon was gone.

"But Klaus..." She trailed off. What could she possibly say? He knew her all too damn well, and it bothered her intensely. Yes, she felt awful, beyond awful, for what had happened to Klaus. But was she still going to ask for his help? Hell, yes.

"You think my mother's book may hold a spell capable of wrenching open a disintegrating underworld of lost souls so that you can retrieve two of them?"

"Or three," Caroline admitted, "we'll get Lexi, too if we can."

"Wonderful," Klaus remarked, "that's completely ridiculous and impossible. But if there is such a spell in existence, my wretched mother's infernal spell book is the place to look."

"I was thinking more 'long shot' than 'ridiculous and impossible,'" Caroline snipped.

"That's my girl. Certainly. You can have the book. Take it back to Mystic Falls with you."

Caroline's brow furrowed suspiciously. "What's the catch?"

"Ah, love. You don't miss a trick. The catch is, I want you to stay here for just another day. With me."

Caroline couldn't believe her ears. "Klaus, you'd give up one of your most valuable possessions just to spend time with me? But...I can't. That night in the woods..."

"Was a one time deal. I know, and I would never insult your virtue _or _my own ego by trying to gain another night in your arms through a _trade_. The next time we make love, it will be because you want nothing more than you want me. I can wait for that time."

"_Make love?" _Caroline repeated incredulously, "you really _are _over 1,000 years old."

"That's fine," Klaus replied smoothly. "You go ahead and smother your true emotions towards me with mockery and disbelief. You are so very good at it. But the point I'm trying to make, _love_, is that I want you to be near me, if not _with_ me, for one more day. That means, tonight and tomorrow - _all _of tomorrow. Then the following morning, take the book and your repression and go running back to your cookie cutter existence back home. Is that agreeable to you?"

"I'm not repressed and I don't appreciate your condescending attitude towards the life I choose to live," Caroline argued testily, "but okay. I agree to your terms."

"Splendid," Klaus enthused with that wicked, seductive smile in full force.

_Oh, God, _Caroline thought, panicking but concealing it bravely, _I'm in trouble_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Caroline trailed Klaus through the French Quarter, listening to him monologue about the various sects of vamps, werewolves, witches, and plain old human beings who comprised its tempestuous community. One thing was for sure, Klaus loved to _talk_, especially about himself and his enemies. The constant dramatist of his own adventures and eternal sympathizer with himself, Klaus let his words flow freely, as if the tales of battle and gore were utterly charming conversational topics. Well, she thought, to him, they were.

Still, she had to admit as they wound their way through the crowded streets packed with wide-eyed tourists and secretive looking residents, this eclectic, culturally vibrant place had a special, enticing fascination about it. Like Klaus, it was so mesmerizing that the ambiance drew you in despite the danger so thinly veiled beneath the attractive surface. Yet it was the danger that made you feel so alive, too, like the world's most treacherous contact high.

"What's this?" Caroline asked, noticing a prominent shrine to lost loved ones, piled high with all manner of tributes.

"That is a memorial for those who died in the recent attack on my people. The hidden wolf pack, the witches seeking to sacrifice my child...they caused many casualties in their attempts to destroy my family. Those not in the know about the supernatural factions believe it was an outburst of gang violence." Klaus' voice was no longer bragging or cheery as it had been when he was telling her about other violent incidents he'd naturally either instigated or jumped into. Now, it was as hollow as his sad eyes. Caroline followed his line of vision to a small card taped up among the tributes: "Baby Mikaelson." She couldn't help the tears that sprang into her eyes then.

"Klaus," she began, but he cut her off, even as she reached to touch his arm comfortingly.

"Let's go and get a drink," he proposed, not looking at her as he led them away. She could have sworn she heard him actually _sniffle_. Klaus had really loved that baby, she realized. Not because she was his legacy or because she would have been powerful or able to help him build some new hybrid army, as Tyler had suspected. But for the child's own sake. Klaus had truly changed since she'd seen him last, Caroline realized. He was playing it down by acting like his old self, but something more was going on with him, a mystery that surprised her considerably.

She didn't really know what else to say or do right then, so she just followed him to a small, quiet bar with candlelit tables and listened while he ordered an outrageously pricey bottle of red wine. The right thing to do was to argue that she didn't want to sit here wasting time on Klaus' little lark of showing her around this town he'd founded. That, with the whole universe falling apart, surely there _was _no time for wine and chitchat. But she didn't give voice to those righteous words. She had to go along with his wishes to get the grimoire. Yet there was a part of Caroline, buried so far down she could _almost_ ignore it, that wanted to be here with Klaus anyway. Just to be with him.

"Klaus," she began, "about the baby..." She'd noticing him avoiding the subject all day. Hiding something from her, which wasn't like him. For better or mostly worse, Klaus had never lied to her. He let her see him for who he was, however horrifying that person could be at any given moment. Maybe she respected that honesty and didn't want to see it end.

"Caroline, I can't talk to you about my daughter. We can discuss any other topic you'd like to, except that one."

"But," she argued gently, "I can see that you're hurting, but you also haven't told me everything. I….I want to know what really happened. What's going on?"

"Love, I can't tell you, but I've also promised never to deceive you. All I can tell you is that I had a child and she was..._taken _from me."

Caroline examined Klaus' face carefully. Right then, he wasn't so much grieving as he was..wistful. As though he knew the child was in a better place...but wait a minute...

"Klaus," she exclaimed, a eureka moment upon her, "is your daughter still-"

"Hush, now," he interrupted, "we can say nothing more on the subject." The truth, which made Caroline's head spin with happy surprise and relief for him, shone clearly in his face. Lost, taken, gone from here, but somehow, miraculously, the child lived.

"Let's drink a toast," he proposed, "to new beginnings." Caroline, still swept up in the emotion of figuring out his meaning, gave into a grin as they clinked glasses.

They walked closer together on the way back to the abattoir. Though still not touching, she felt the warmth of the mood between them uniting them effortlessly. If she let herself, Caroline knew she could drift away with him, so separate and safe did they seem right then from all the suffocating problems of the world. No one back home could see or judge her now. It was as if she'd stepped outside of time and consequence. But she'd felt the same that night in the woods with Klaus, and it had been an illusion. You could pause time and avert consequence, but it all came hurtling back to get you afterwards, mercilessly. She had to be smarter about this deal he'd talked her into...keep Klaus at arm's length no matter how hard it was.

"Klaus?" A voice piped up. Caroline snapped out of her reverie to see a pretty blonde woman regarding her and Klaus with questioning eyes.

"Camille," Klaus greeted, sounding strangely awkward. "I'd like to introduce you to Caroline Forbes."

"Call me Cami," the woman laughed. "Hi, it's really nice to meet you, Caroline." In Cami's smile, Caroline could see so much curiosity about who she was and why she was with Klaus. It dawned on her that Klaus and Cami must have some kind of...relationship. Like what, were they sleeping together? Dating? Did Klaus actually _date_?

"You, too," Caroline forced herself to say, annoyed by the riptide of emotion that threatened to undo her as she faced the simple and excruciating fact that she felt jealousy right then. The thought of Klaus moving on from his obsession with her _bothered_ her, even wounded her, made her feel like one of the most precious experiences of her life was being stolen. _What?_ Why and how was she going through these crazy feelings for a terrible murderous psychopath? Shouldn't she be relieved that maybe someone else was replacing her in Klaus' heart? _Ugh! I am totally losing it, _Caroline freaked mentally, maintaining a casual, friendly outward appearance.

"Well, goodnight then," Klaus remarked dismissively, bolstering Caroline's bruised spirits a bit by not prolonging this encounter or seeming sorry to see Cami go walking onward, bemused.

"What was that all about?" Caroline demanded as they entered the courtyard of his home. Klaus' face lit up immediately.

"I couldn't have planned that better if I _had _schemed to put you in Cami's path," Klaus said blithely.

"Excuse me?"

"You have tried so achingly hard to convince me that you have felt nothing for me but some passing lust. But now I can see that there's more to it than that. _Much _more."

"Wipe that smug smile off your face," Caroline snapped. "I'm not jealous." The lie was immensely satisfying. After a beat, she added, "why, is she your girlfriend?"

Klaus chortled. "No, she's just a dear friend, one who's been there for me in these past months when you have _not_. And yes, maybe there's been an attraction between us-"

He saw the fire blaze in Caroline's eyes at his words and hurried on, "However, standing next to you, Camille almost faded away from existence. Because as far as I am concerned, no other woman compares to you, Caroline. Or ever could. I'm willing to tell you this because I have no defenses in place against you, despite the walls you've built to keep me out. But don't play coy and hypocritical, love. I'm sure there's someone back home you've been leaning on, too. Some knight in shining armor you hope can save you from your own darkest impulses. So tell me, who is it? Tyler, perhaps?"

"No," Caroline replied irritably, though she was secretly touched by what he'd said about his feelings for her. "Tyler knows you and I slept together, so he'll never look at me that way again. You can thank Katherine for that."

Klaus laughed harshly, "Finally, Katherine was good for something. Who then, Caroline? Perhaps Matt, that pathetic little hanger on of yours?"

"It's not Matt, and don't talk about him that way."

"Ah, so there _is _a new man in your life," Klaus determined.

"Not exactly. It's just that lately, me and Stefan have been getting closer, and...and...God, why am I telling you this?"

Klaus' eyes flashed and he bit out resentfully, "Stefan Salvatore. Of course. How very..." He got right in her face and glared at her, "_convenient_."

"Goodnight, Klaus," Caroline said coldly, making to walk upstairs to the room that had been prepared for her.

Klaus moved to block her path. "Let me walk you to your room," he offered, courtly, with a side of mischief.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, but no more talk about my love life. It's none of your business."

"Of course," Klaus agreed as they walked up the steps.

When they reached her door, he smiled knowingly and with no warning, leaned in to kiss her. There was a split second when Caroline had a chance to stop him, but she didn't. He'd caught her off guard. She loved the sweet taste of his mouth, the tantalizing sensation of his tongue, the powerful grip of his arms around her, too much to resist. Especially so soon after feeling that stab of jealousy at seeing him with Cami. Caroline let her eyes close and returned his passion fully, knowing there'd be hell to pay and not caring. She would have let him into her room that night, into her bed...she needed him there so badly that it scared her.

But Klaus stepped back and raised his hands up in a gesture of gentlemanly restraint she knew to be mocking accusation. He was saying, _gotcha_. He'd proven how she really felt, that she was weak in the knees for him still and way more seriously than she'd ever let on before.

"Sweet dreams, Caroline," Klaus said haughtily, stalking off.

Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. _What just happened? _Caroline asked herself, but she knew the answer already. She always had.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

She tossed and turned all night, her stomach churning with regret, self-blaming and confusion. Of course, through it all, she still wanted to get up and go to him. Caroline could visualize climbing into bed with Klaus, rousing him awake with her kisses until he returned them. Could feel what his hands would be like all over her, how the brush of his stubble would raise goosebumps as he ran his mouth down her breasts, her stomach...

_Arghhh! _Caroline's mind shrieked, consumed by sexual frustration, and something else too...the spiritual deprivation of being separate from him was unbearable. Her soul wanted to bind itself to his. She'd never understand it, but it was true. She yanked her pillow over her ears, burying her face in the mattress like she could drown out the voice whispering to _just. give. in._

Finally, she sank into a fitful, dream-soaked sleep that seemed to smack right into the early morning. Her eyes flew open and she was completely alert.

She dressed simply in a purple tank top and jeans, sliding her feet into her cute silver flats and brushing her hair, but not bothering with make-up. She shouldn't put any effort into looking her best or give Klaus reason to believe she was doing so for his sake.

Heading to his room to see what was on the agenda for today, Caroline was surprised to find it empty, the door wide open. Sighing, she stepped in. She knew this must mean that he wanted her to look around, as this was just one of his many coded messages that she could read instantly. But she was a curious cat, and she took him up on this glimpse into his private chambers.

Naturally, it was mostly art. Paintings, in progress and completed, were strewn, yet somehow neatly, on every table and chair aside from the two large easels. Caroline was taken aback by a beautiful portrait of Hayley holding her newborn daughter, at peace. Had the two even shared such a lovely moment before the child was _taken_, whatever Klaus meant by that? The affection that made the painting bloom and seem so alive told Caroline that Klaus must care deeply for Hayley, even if not romantically. Could Klaus feel..._friendship_ for the mother of his baby, genuinely? It seemed so. Again, she was shocked by the change in him.

Speaking of friends, there was a drawing of Cami here too, soft and sentimental in its lines and shading, _sweet_, even, which pissed Caroline off. She turned the drawing upside down and covered it with some depictions of local architecture which Klaus had recreated in bold, possessive strokes showing his hunger for power in this city. When she shifted those, she found three more drawings...of herself.

Caroline examined them with great interest, wondering if this was what he was trying to show her. In the first drawing, she was wearing her white dress from graduation day, smiling broadly with pride and hope for the future. She remembered what Klaus had said to her that evening when he announced that Tyler was free to return to Mystic Falls. "He was your first love. I intend to be your last." She shivered at the intense memory.

In the second drawing, Caroline was standing in the forest, her back against a tree, mouth half-open in arousal. But, she realized, it wasn't a crude or trashy picture. It expressed wonderment at a memory the artist found unforgettably beautiful. Still, this was seriously embarrassing. It was like homemade porn. Caroline folded it and slipped it into her back pocket, planning to dispose of it...or maybe hide it somewhere to look at it later and continue overanalyzing Klaus' thoughts when he'd created it.

Lastly, there was a drawing of Caroline standing beside a noble, gentle white horse and smiling demurely. Oh, Klaus, _really? _Yup, she'd shredded the original, but Klaus had made two of these. His first little love letter to her, the only way he really knew how to express himself, through his art. She had to admit, it had kind of killed her to destroy the one she'd had, and she was pleased to see he had another.

"Caroline?"

She looked up, automatically feeling sheepish about being caught going through Klaus' things. Elijah stood regarding her with an expression of surprise.

"I did not expect to see you here...well, indeed, ever," Elijah admitted, impeccable as ever in his perfect suit and clipped, cautiously cordial tone.

Okay. She couldn't tell Klaus' brother why she was really here. Somehow, she doubted that Elijah would be willing to let her take his mother's spell book away. So bizarrely, this was that one crazy time when telling the truth about Klaus Mikaelson actually benefited her and was the wisest route.

"Hello, Elijah. How am I? Oh, I'm fine thanks. And you?"

"A little rough around the edges these days, I fear," Elijah replied smoothly enough.

"Look," Caroline said bluntly, "I realize it's a little weird that I'm here."

"In my brother's room, sifting through his personal belongings," Elijah put in.

"Right..._well_...did you know that Klaus and I..."

"_No_," Elijah replied, in disbelief.. She smirked. It wasn't easy to shock an Original.

"So now you do," Caroline said pointedly, slipping past him and heading downstairs. Klaus was waiting for her in the dining room, a buffet worthy of a cozy bed and breakfast spread invitingly on a side table.

"Good morning," he purred devilishly, getting her back up immediately with his smug ways.

"Good morning yourself," she snipped, yanking the coffee pot up and pouring some strong, delicious smelling liquid into a large mug. Why bother trying to be delicate or lady-like in the least? She piled her plate with eggs, bacon, and toast, biting greedily into the yummy food while Klaus watched her, highly amused.

"You'd think you actually needed ordinary food for sustenance," he observed. "Why don't you take this as well?" She stared at the glass of thick red blood that he slid across the table to her.

"Where did this come from?" She asked suspiciously.

"No one dead, no one compelled, and no one unwilling, my dear," he assured her. Caroline's stomach growled and she decided to take his word for it. She shoved aside the somewhat useless human food and slurped the blood...noisily, on purpose.

"I see what you're trying to do, and it won't work."

"Hmmm?" Caroline asked innocently, batting her eyelashes.

"Oh, no make-up, cramming food in your mouth like a heathen, gulping your morning blood down like a craven beast. Trying to make yourself unattractive to me. An utter failure. Caroline, you don't need make-up because your skin is perfect. You look unspeakably adorable gobbling and chugging like a cavewoman. And the pleasure of knowing this is all to fight against falling back into my arms is the best treat of all."

"God, you're annoying," Caroline snarked. "So what are we doing today, anyway?"

"Today, I'm going to show you my favorite galleries in the city. Show you the hidden garden I have never gone to with anyone else. And through it all, wait for you to give into me."

"You've got a long wait," Caroline informed him, standing to go brush her teeth. Let's face it, this "cavewoman" act was too repugnant to her princess diva ways to last any longer.

"I think you might want to wear something a bit lighter," Klaus suggested. "It's a hot day."

Caroline looked down at her jeans and then glared over at him. "I'm not wearing something skimpier so you can skeeve on me all day."

"Skeeve?" Klaus repeated, laughing heartily. "Delightful. Now go and get ready. We're leaving in ten minutes."

"Stop bossing me around," Caroline groused, standing to go.

"Just one moment," Klaus said, halting her, "I believe _this_-" he slid his hand into her back pocket and removed the drawing of Caroline in the woods- "belongs to me." Blushing and horribly turned on by his fingers grazing and briefly cupping her behind, Caroline almost _ran_ off in a huff. This day couldn't possibly get worse..._could _it?


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"This one reminds me of you," Klaus said excitedly, stopping in front of a contemplative portrait of a young woman done in the Impressionist style.

Caroline examined the lovely, brooding face on the canvas and said, "This isn't your usual taste."

"Well, it's not for me, love. It's for you." He stood a little too close behind her and put his hands on her shoulders as she considered the painting some more. Sitting by the seaside, the woman depicted was both content and confrontational, somehow. She was staring at the painter, it seemed.

"I like it," she decided firmly. "It makes me wonder what she's thinking about."

"That's exactly the effect you have on me," Klaus told her, stepping back and releasing her.

"Oh, really?" Caroline questioned as they walked back out to the street. "I thought you knew all my innermost thoughts and feelings. You've been telling me how I supposedly feel, what I apparently _want,_ since I got here."

"There's a fine distinction you're failing to acknowledge," Klaus observed. "I do understand what you're feeling. I know your heart as if it were my own. But as for your _thoughts_...I confess, they are a mystery to me. I hope that won't always be the case. That someday, you'll truly confide in me."

"You want me to confide in you? Fine. It's _sweltering _out here. Are we going somewhere else with a.c., or is it too early to call it a day?" Caroline crossed her arms, embodying the very dichotomy he kept accusing her of. For every lovely speech he gave about how much she meant to him, she fought her instinctual reactions with more displays of rejection. The trouble was, the act was getting harder and harder to pull off.

"We are going to one more air conditioned establishment, and then I am taking you to the garden I spoke of, _as planned."_

_"_A garden. How appropriate, seeing as you're basically the devil."

"Does that make you Eve? Not much better, is it?" Klaus smiled in a self-satisfied way she hated, mostly because it was kind of adorable.

Caroline did a double-take as he led her into a fancy boutique. Gorgeous fashions were everywhere, including plenty of light, airy sundresses that would have felt heavenly against her body on such a sultry day. Unlike the leaden-feeling jeans she'd sullenly insisted on wearing.

"Go on," Klaus encouraged, "pick a few things to try on."

"Why?" Caroline was dubious.

"Because you can't go traipsing around New Orleans on a hot summer day dressed like you are now. And because you're going to enjoy this. I will wait out here." He sat in a white wicker chair outside the fitting room like the model of a dutiful boyfriend. Klaus' expression implied that there was nowhere else he'd rather be. Not skewering a mortal foe or scheming to gain yet more power. Watching Caroline try on dresses.

"Is this the actual _twilight zone_?" Caroline wondered aloud, unable to resist pulling a few dresses off the racks.

She tried on a canary yellow dress and then a mint green one that were both to die for, but when she stepped into the pale blue, strapless frock and zipped it up, pivoting in the mirror, something just clicked. This was the one. She forced the grin off her face, the one that showed how much he'd made her forget not only her problems, but also those of her friends for one fleeting second, as if she was just a girl having a wonderful day out with a guy she..._no, never mind_. When she emerged to show Klaus the dress, the weight of the world was back on her shoulders where it belonged.

"Is this good enough? Can we go now?" Caroline asked, waving her hands about in a sarcastic "tada" gesture.

"It's perfect," Klaus decreed when he saw her, ignoring her petulant pout. He had the saleswoman clip the tag right off of it so that Caroline could simply wear it out of the store. She stuffed her old clothes into a paper shopping bag and reemerged, loving the feel of the frothy blue fabric just barely kissing her skin under the now enjoyably warm sun.

"So where is this fascinating hideaway you promised me?" Caroline asked, getting used to following him around, strangely compliant not only because of their deal. "You know," she admitted, "this reminds me of a book I read when I was a kid. _The Secret Garden_."

"I hope it looks the way you pictured it then," Klaus remarked.

And it basically did. Sloping down into a small hollow, the small and picturesque garden only featured four stone benches surrounded by a verdant, leafy fence. It was a lonely little place, but crowded all over with bright flowers of every color. This was an ideal thinking spot, Caroline realized.

"Does anyone else even know this is here?" Caroline asked, looking around.

"I see other people coming in here to sit and read, or think, or just look at the flowers. But with the exception of the gardener, I usually compel them to leave so I can have it to myself."

"Typical," Caroline laughed. "Far be it for you to let someone else enjoy it."

"Sometimes I just want to be alone," Klaus said, intense all of a sudden. He took her hands as they stood there in the middle of this tiny, peaceful whisper of a place. "But not right now."

"Klaus," Caroline began, "we can't..."

"Caroline, I understand." The words sounded so heavy and painful falling off of his tongue.

"No," She interrupted, "I don't think that you do. You think I can't forgive you for all the death and destruction you've caused. That the wall I put up to keep you away from me is because of that. You're wrong. The problem is that I _can _forgive you. I _do _forgive you. I want to let myself be pulled back into this crazy orbit of yours and get swept away by you until I forget everything else. And I can't forgive myself for that." Tears stung in her eyes as Caroline stared at him imploringly. Couldn't he just release her from this frightening pull that kept bringing them closer and closer?

Klaus stepped nearer and put one hand on her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "You once told me," he said, his voice quavering, "that anyone capable of love is capable of being saved. Don't you think that the love between us...the mere fact of its _existence_...proves that to be true? We can save each other. Don't leave me here to drown without you." The heartbreak in his eyes was unbearable. She moved closer to him and placed her hand on his arm as his finger swept away another one of her bittersweet tears.

"Caroline, don't leave me," Klaus whispered right before she leaned up and pressed her lips to his. A too-brief, sad hint of a kiss.

"I don't have a choice," she said miserably, pulling back and turning to leave the garden. He followed her back to the abattoir silently, and they passed a quiet evening looking over some books and antiques he had collected which were beautiful and provided sufficient light conversation to furnish a few hours spent in pleasant company tinged with melancholy. Klaus walked her to her room at around eleven and kissed her rather chastely on the cheek, not pushing her for anything or making any more suggestions that she stay longer than the agreed-upon term.

When he had left, Caroline stared at her lonely bed and sighed heavily. _Seriously_? Another night of unrest with Klaus right down the hall, so close but completely out of reach? God, she didn't know if she could handle it. Haunted by the look on his face during his speech about the redemptive power of love in the garden earlier, she wondered what she was even _doing_ or why she was hesitating to follow her heart. She turned on her heel and marched down the hall until she got to his bedroom, where she knocked on the door and stood there a little shaky.

Klaus opened the door, still dressed in his light tan pants and white button-down shirt from their day together. Unlike the dark apparel he usually favored, the paler shades brought out a more dashingly optimistic glint in his eyes, as if anything was possible. That was the surprised realization that seemed to strike him as he regarded Caroline standing there, against all odds imaginable. Their love wasn't impossible at all.

"There's nothing I want more than I want you," Caroline blurted out impulsively, echoing the words he'd said to her yesterday afternoon.

"Perhaps dreams do come true after all," Klaus murmured, bowling her over with the flush of emotion he portrayed, undisguised adoration shining in his eyes.

She stepped inside and he closed the door before backing her up against it, covering her in kisses that drove her wild. Caroline fumbled with the buttons on his shirt before giving up and ripping it off as he unzipped the blue dress and it fell to the floor. All of her pent up feelings and long-smoldering ardor came tumbling out as they collided together on his bed in a tangle of limbs. She moaned his name in his ear, causing him to shiver as he slipped her bra straps off her shoulders with slow and torturous care.

"I want to tell you something," Caroline told Klaus, grabbing his face and gazing intently into his handsome, deadly, extraordinary face.

"What is it?" he murmured, waiting for her words, knowing that they would be important.

"I love you," she said plainly, honestly, with no further attempts to hide the fact she'd fought against for so long. The relief of the moment was incredible.

Klaus' eyes clouded with happy tears, his expression one of complete shock despite his constant bragging that he knew how she really felt. Caroline could tell that he had only dared to hope she might say those words sometime in the distant future. That was why he was always talking about being willing to wait, even if it took years or centuries. Why he'd announced his intention to be her last love. Everything was coming full circle now instead of later. Why delay the inevitable? Caroline was tired of all the lies and felt reinvigorated as she abandoned her every painstakingly sculpted mask of indifference.

"I love you back," Klaus replied in that buttery accent that undid her from within, gorgeous as he hovered above her.

Caroline shifted them so that he was beneath her and she straddled him, feeling bold and unrepentant. He took her bra off the rest of the way and she sighed at the sensation of his hands pressing against her. "Show me how much you love me," Caroline requested, overwhelmed with desire.

"Your wish is my command," Klaus vowed with an irrepressible smile.

As they lay there sometime later, Caroline marveled at the bizarre comfort of cuddling with Klaus. She remembered her earlier reference to the twilight zone and thought that after all, she might want to take up permanent residence there. However, there were constraints on her immediate future that she could already feel tugging on her heartstrings.

"Klaus, I still have to go back to Mystic Falls tomorrow," She announced, looking up at him as he moved a lock of hair out of her eyes.

"I know that," he admitted. "But now, I have something I never had before. The belief that you'll return."

"There are so many details and obligations to keep us apart," Caroline noted, frustrated. "I have a lot to figure out. I mean sure, I have to go back _now_ to get that grimoire to Liv so she can get Bonnie and Damon back."

"Rescuing your friend and your best friend's boyfriend from the pits of possibly eternal damnation. I'd say that's a priority," Klaus agreed, prideful at her continued staunchness in saving them.

"And then…after that, what about college? Whitmore? I mean, I know you can't exactly come back to Mystic Falls."

"No, this is my home," Klaus explained, "I have work to do here. And I think I've worn out my welcome in those woodsy environs at any rate. You know, Caroline, they do have colleges in Louisiana."

"So they _do_," Caroline confirmed, smiling dreamily.

"There's one issue you haven't mentioned," Klaus pointed out, a complex twinge of jealousy apparent in his expression. "Stefan."

"There's one issue _you_ haven't mentioned," she countered, "Cami."

"You are the one for me, Caroline. The only one. I've always known it. No one threatens that or ever could."

"I feel the same about you," Caroline said quietly, "Maybe I was thinking about Stefan as sort of this…safe harbor because he's such a good friend to me. To take it to the next level…would have been so easy, and I would have known I was safe and secure with him."

"You can't feel that way with me?" Klaus questioned, raising his eyebrows.

"Definitely not," she laughed, inching upwards until their noses brushed. "But I have to accept that and not be afraid anymore. I have to stop running. I might have to leave you in the morning, but I'm not running away from you this time. I'll be back, even if I don't know how long it'll take."

Klaus kissed her then, caressing every curve of her body beneath the sheets as she moved against him, meeting his passionate advances with equal fervor. As the heat reignited between them, Caroline sank happily into this perfect night, knowing as she never had before that it would not be the last one they shared together. Eternity stretched out before them, and they would have each other every step of the way.


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Caroline carefully folded her beautiful blue dress and placed it on top of the rest of the clothing in her traveling bag. She knew that when she arrived home, she'd likely leave it on the hanger to display in her room, a talisman tying her back to Klaus, the memories of their time over the last couple of days, and all of the days they would share together in the future.

"Leaving so soon?" a politely inquisitive voice piped up. Caroline spun around to see Elijah standing at the open door of her room.

"Yes," Caroline replied, glad the grimoire was safely concealed at the bottom of her bag. Originals were strong, but they didn't have x-ray vision, at least. While she doubted Elijah would put up a fight for the book - for one thing, he looked as emotionally drained these days as Klaus had the afternoon she'd arrived - Caroline didn't want to waste time arguing with him.

"You know," Elijah observed, fixing his intelligent gaze on her, "I never would have thought that you were the woman with whom my brother would finally find some level of peace and the chance at redemption."

"Why?" Caroline asked briskly, "did you think I was too common or flighty or something?"

"Certainly not," he assured her. "I merely doubted you would ever give Klaus the time of day, no matter how ceaselessly he pursued you."

"Well, I _tried _not to love him," Caroline explained, loving the honesty of those simple words flowing freely, unlocking the shackles of her long-enforced denial. "In the end, love was more important than all the sensible reasons why we could never work."

"I'm glad to hear that," Elijah said with a small, yet heartfelt smile. "He needs you. And with you in his life, perhaps Klaus really can evolve into a better man. I suspect he's always wanted to do so deep down, though he would never admit it."

"I suspect it too," Caroline answered warmly, returning his smile. "Thank you, Elijah. I'll see you soon."

Heading downstairs to the courtyard, which was bathed in warm sunlight, the sight of Klaus standing there in his ostensibly unremarkable white t-shirt and dark washed jeans took her breath away. "Is there something unusual about my appearance?" Klaus asked in that sexy, lilting voice.

"No, it's just…I never wanted to say this to your face before, since it'd probably have gone right to your head. But you're kind of gorgeous." Caroline felt she could say absolutely anything to Klaus now, and it felt extraordinary.

"Oh, well," Klaus grinned, cupping her face in his palm as she leaned happily into his touch, "That's something we have in common."

Caroline batted at him playfully. "I _knew_ you'd get a big head if I admitted that."

"Humility has never been my strong suit, love," Klaus confessed shamelessly. "But I'm hopeful that loving you, Caroline Forbes, will be my greatest skill of all."

She let the stunning romance of his words wash over her for a moment before dropping her bag on the ground and wrapping her arms around his neck, kissing him with complete abandon. Gone were the days of secrecy, smothered lust, and forbidden longings. Caroline pulled back reluctantly and looked into his dark, sparkling eyes. They had once been shuttered windows, impenetrable and determined to remain protected from human emotion and therefore pain. But now there shone a perfect clarity in his gaze that reflected her own expression of contentment in the faithful reality of their love.

"I have to go, but I'll be back. I don't care how crazy hard it is to figure out a way to come here and be with you, or _what_ everyone back home is going to say." Caroline took a deep breath and let it out again, well aware of the enormity of this proposition.

Klaus chortled at her last statement, no doubt imagining the enthusiasm that Caroline's family and friends would_ not _exhibit once learning of her plans. "No matter what anyone says about us, remember that I love you and I am waiting here for you," he told her, his face turning serious again.

"I will," Caroline vowed as Klaus took her hand and held it tightly before letting her go for the time being.

As Caroline climbed into her car and rolled the windows down, she could see Klaus still standing there, an anchoring figure in a lonely half-fallen kingdom he would have to fight hard to rebuild while battling his darker side to ensure it was done without ruthlessness or needless bloodshed. And Caroline had her own dragons to slay. She turned the key, and despite the difficulty of all that she had to accomplish, there was no denying that she felt utterly elated.

Someday soon, she would return.


End file.
